Ok first off I can tell that people posting here are not linux or unix users, osx is unix in a way but you get the pretty graphical end you see that works with a unix subsystem (to make it simple)...
Let me break it down first. The username and password you have of root and alpine are set by apple and generic to all i* devices. The thing is without jailbreak you would never be able to enable that access so in an "Apple" ideal world that never mattered.
Now along came jailbreaking and thus apple lost that control. It now became a risk if you enabled ssh without changing that pass word as anyone who could scan or guess you ip on port 22 would get a prompt for login. From there they would change your password to make it a bot for their purposes later, this is a maybe but you need to know what could happen if not changed.
Now, when you try to login do you get a prompt for a name and password or does it sit there doing nothing? For one you need to make sure the phone is on the same wifi network as your computer. Next you find the IP address of your device from wifi settings. You will use this ip to connect to.
If you have osx it's under applications , utilities then terminal. For windows google for putty, it's the first link.
Putty you use the ip of the phone and port 22
For osx type: ssh root@ip
of course replace ip with your devices ip address on wifi.
If you can get a prompt for password then you are at least a step closer to knowing you had you password changed. If it gets no prompt then there may be hope.
To clarify everything said, reinstalling openssh does not reset the pass word, no more than rebooting your mbp resets it's password. It's the built in user login for the device hidden in most devices but never touched. I'm on my iPad now at Disney World Polynesian hotel about to go to sleep but had to reply to this to offer some better starting points than the other guesses posted sending you in circles. Yay for vacation and always being connected lol.